We hear all the time how the NFL is trying to protect the players--give me a break- the hit on Amendola by # 25 of the Saints did'nt even draw a Personal foul flag!!! I bet he gets fined this week-- yet NO CALL ON THE field. He should have been EJECTED since the guy he hit with his helmit was not able to come back!!! New Orleans defensive backs are DIRTY players--their were so many helmit - to -helmit hits by the Saints in this game!!!-- and these OLD CRUSTY 70 year old Refs have NO clue!!! All Refs calling a game that do not call a flagrount foul on a player when the player gets fined the following week should have their paychecks docked--PERIOD!! NFL stands for hypocrit League!!! F these Saints - I hope # 25 and # 27 get their sh-t clocked and soon - I'd like to get a peice of them-dirty as--- players that they are!!!

I still say that If a defensive player knocks an offensive player out of the game and it was a helmit to helmit illigal hit the Defensive player he should be tossed also--why should he stay in the game when the player he took out no longer can play?

Talking about the Amendola hit--helmit to helmit--no PI call but I bet he gets FINED this week # 25 should have been thrown out and received a Personal foul call on the play to DA? And if a ref does not call the hit a 15 yard personal foul and the player gets fined after the game the ref should also lose some money in a fine since he missed the call!

I just watched the replay. It was definately a running play so he was not a defenseless receiver. He started lowering himself to brace for the hit and that is one of the reasons it ended up being a head shot. I don't know what the Saint player was thinking but it did not look like a cheap shot to me. Just bad luck for the Pats.

Yeah, wasn't it a trick play, with Amendola running it or am I thinking of a diferrent play?

It was an end around, Danny was a RB i believe, he doesn't benefit from helmet to helmet.

It doesn't matter what position the carrier plays. It could be a QB. If you are running with the ball and lead with your helmet as a weapon past 3 yards, it's a penalty on the ball carrier.

It's ALSO a penalty on a defender to hit the ball carrier as well. It's new this year. The call was missed:

RULE 12, SECTION 2 ARTICLE 8

Initiating Contact with the Crown of the Helmet

-- It is a foul if a runner or tackler initiates forcible contact by delivering a blow with the top/crown of his helmet against an opponent when both players are clearly outside the tackle box (an area extending from tackle to tackle and from three yards beyond the line of scrimmage to the offensive team's end line).

-- Incidental contact by the helmet of a runner or tackler against an opponent shall not be a foul.

Note: The tackle box no longer exists once the ball leaves the tackle box.

Penalty: Loss of 15 yards. If the foul is by the defense, it is also an automatic first down. The player may be disqualified if the action is flagrant.

Thanks for helping me to understand--so if it's a running back or a run play then helmit to helmit does not come into play? Getting more confusing from the good ole days? Thanks again!

Yeah, wasn't it a trick play, with Amendola running it or am I thinking of a diferrent play?

It was an end around, Danny was a RB i believe, he doesn't benefit from helmet to helmet.

It doesn't matter what position the carrier plays. It could be a QB. If you are running with the ball and lead with your helmet as a weapon past 3 yards, it's a penalty on the ball carrier.

It's ALSO a penalty on a defender to hit the ball carrier as well. It's new this year. The call was missed:

RULE 12, SECTION 2 ARTICLE 8

Initiating Contact with the Crown of the Helmet

-- It is a foul if a runner or tackler initiates forcible contact by delivering a blow with the top/crown of his helmet against an opponent when both players are clearly outside the tackle box (an area extending from tackle to tackle and from three yards beyond the line of scrimmage to the offensive team's end line).

-- Incidental contact by the helmet of a runner or tackler against an opponent shall not be a foul.

Note: The tackle box no longer exists once the ball leaves the tackle box.

Penalty: Loss of 15 yards. If the foul is by the defense, it is also an automatic first down. The player may be disqualified if the action is flagrant.

Thanks for helping me to understand--so if it's a running back or a run play then helmit to helmit does not come into play? Getting more confusing from the good ole days? Thanks again!

"helmit"?

It's a penalty if either the runner or defender uses the crown to initiate contact to the other player's helemt. It's not just for WRs or TEs anymore.

Is this that hard to understand? It was an added rule this year because it looked hyporitical that they were only protecting the WR or TE as opposed to the RB who might get blindsided with a dirty and dangerous hit.

The play is closer to the Pollard hit on Ridley. The safety comes in loads up to make the hit and delivers it directly to the runners head. It is no accident. Safeties know how to do it and since they can't do it to receivers anymore running backs are the next target. Theyre a little slower and more predictable.

Rafaeel Bush is a thug for sure. The penalty should have been unnecessary roughness. Amendola was going down. Yes he was going for that extra yard putting his head in harms way, also. So players have to be trained to just get lower and avoid those collisions if possible.

The thing that bothers me is the FANS and TALKING HEADS.... ALL OF THEM who are using this hit as ANOTHER EXAMPLE of DAs so called fragility and injury proneness.

ANYBODY can get a concussion... Its bad luck and malicious intent on the other side. HAS NOTHING to do with a players so called "abilty to stay on the field." Ignorant Morons...

The play is closer to the Pollard hit on Ridley. The safety comes in loads up to make the hit and delivers it directly to the runners head. It is no accident. Safeties know how to do it and since they can't do it to receivers anymore running backs are the next target. Theyre a little slower and more predictable.

Rafaeel Bush is a thug for sure. The penalty should have been unnecessary roughness. Amendola was going down. Yes he was going for that extra yard putting his head in harms way, also. So players have to be trained to just get lower and avoid those collisions if possible.

The thing that bothers me is the FANS and TALKING HEADS.... ALL OF THEM who are using this hit as ANOTHER EXAMPLE of DAs so called fragility and injury proneness.

ANYBODY can get a concussion... Its bad luck and malicious intent on the other side. HAS NOTHING to do with a players so called "abilty to stay on the field." Ignorant Morons...

Bad luck comes into injury proneness too Coolaid. Freak injures are bad luck aren't they? One way or another Amendola is always injured which makes him injury prone. It sux and no one wanted the guy to get injured but as BB says "It is what it is" and the guy is in fact injury prone

The play is closer to the Pollard hit on Ridley. The safety comes in loads up to make the hit and delivers it directly to the runners head. It is no accident. Safeties know how to do it and since they can't do it to receivers anymore running backs are the next target. Theyre a little slower and more predictable.

Rafaeel Bush is a thug for sure. The penalty should have been unnecessary roughness. Amendola was going down. Yes he was going for that extra yard putting his head in harms way, also. So players have to be trained to just get lower and avoid those collisions if possible.

The thing that bothers me is the FANS and TALKING HEADS.... ALL OF THEM who are using this hit as ANOTHER EXAMPLE of DAs so called fragility and injury proneness.

ANYBODY can get a concussion... Its bad luck and malicious intent on the other side. HAS NOTHING to do with a players so called "abilty to stay on the field." Ignorant Morons...

Bad luck comes into injury proneness too Coolaid. Freak injures are bad luck aren't they? One way or another Amendola is always injured which makes him injury prone. It sux and no one wanted the guy to get injured but as BB says "It is what it is" and the guy is in fact injury prone

Still ... talk about the bad luck, then... Ive heard people saying stuff like ... Some guys are just not built to take the punishment of NFL football...which is a true statement.

BUT dont use THIS HIT as an example of that. He was kind of unfortunate to say the least, but not fragile or injury prone. I don't believe and correct me if wrong that DA has no prior history of concussion causing him to lose time.

The play is closer to the Pollard hit on Ridley. The safety comes in loads up to make the hit and delivers it directly to the runners head. It is no accident. Safeties know how to do it and since they can't do it to receivers anymore running backs are the next target. Theyre a little slower and more predictable.

Rafaeel Bush is a thug for sure. The penalty should have been unnecessary roughness. Amendola was going down. Yes he was going for that extra yard putting his head in harms way, also. So players have to be trained to just get lower and avoid those collisions if possible.

The thing that bothers me is the FANS and TALKING HEADS.... ALL OF THEM who are using this hit as ANOTHER EXAMPLE of DAs so called fragility and injury proneness.

ANYBODY can get a concussion... Its bad luck and malicious intent on the other side. HAS NOTHING to do with a players so called "abilty to stay on the field." Ignorant Morons...

I think that was a big reason they added ball carriers to the rule this year. Pollard led with his helmet and took out Ridley.

This is about the lawsuits the NFL is looking to work through. They just settled with the union, but if they look negligent and pick and choose who to protect, it will come off as irresponsible.

The fact is, you don't need to do what Pollard or Bush did. A shoulder into the chest area, if the opp is there or another kind of clean tackle is sufficient.

Agree... And you don't need to take out a guys Knee either (Randall Cobb) . That one is sick... and of course RAVENS AGAIN. Not sure how the DB ended up on the ground to deliver that hit but WOW. Dirty and using the excuse that " waaah , we can't hit in the head anymore so we-re going low" is bullsh1t.

Still ... talk about the bad luck, then... Ive heard people saying stuff like ... Some guys are just not built to take the punishment of NFL football...which is a true statement.

BUT dont use THIS HIT as an example of that. He was kind of unfortunate to say the least, but not fragile or injury prone. I don't believe and correct me if wrong that DA has no prior history of concussion causing him to lose time.

In this one case I would say you are right, wrong place wrong time and almost anyone would get their bell rung. But, there is a pattern to him and right or wrong anytime he gets injured it's going to come up. I'm sorry but if someone is consistently getting injured you just can't say well this was a fluke and that was a fluke. It does point to the player being fragile and just because anyone would sustain an injury with that hit doesn't mean that the player is any less fragile. If a person with glass bones breaks one because they were in a car accident it doesn't mean they aren't fragile because anyone would have sustained one it just means they sustained another one.

We hear all the time how the NFL is trying to protect the players--give me a break- the hit on Amendola by # 25 of the Saints did'nt even draw a Personal foul flag!!! I bet he gets fined this week-- yet NO CALL ON THE field. He should have been EJECTED since the guy he hit with his helmit was not able to come back!!! New Orleans defensive backs are DIRTY players--their were so many helmit - to -helmit hits by the Saints in this game!!!-- and these OLD CRUSTY 70 year old Refs have NO clue!!! All Refs calling a game that do not call a flagrount foul on a player when the player gets fined the following week should have their paychecks docked--PERIOD!! NFL stands for hypocrit League!!! F these Saints - I hope # 25 and # 27 get their sh-t clocked and soon - I'd like to get a peice of them-dirty as--- players that they are!!!

What I found interesting about this play is THREE Saints D-backs crunched Amendola once he was on the ground. Did they need THREE of them to tackle him since he was going out of bounds?

You can tell, they are attempting to hit a player hard with the intent the hit does the dirty deed with no effort to tackle the player. How many times did you see a tackle attempted versus dropping the shoulder and hitting the ball carrier as hard as possible?

The rule Harvey talks about is legit and when the rule became law or was put in the rule book I mentioned that it had to universally enforced and not randomly applied. It bothers me a little that players are getting injured while Peirara runs point for Goodell and the NFL's PR. A lot of time is spent back-peddling and bootstrapping instead of enforcing the rule. Refs have to be given a league memo or something bad will happen (think Raiders concede TD on Peyton 0 Blitz call). The league is always willing to protect its marquee players, but the players on the periphery not so much. It seems like fines are enforceable and most players have their suspensions overturned on appeal. IMO repeat offenders should be punished (just like recidivism in real life). I don't buy the unintentional defense when a player is a repeat offender. This game is played very fast and you need refs who in the right position to make a call.

BTW If the Pats meet Carroll and Seahawks in Jersey Super Bowl; count on BB out-coaching Carroll or Carroll making a bad decision that costs his team.